A Shadow's Battle
by peanutbutterprince
Summary: In the final battle against Khalidor, Agon tries to defend Cenaria city from the Khalidoran highlanders. When he thinks all hope is lost, he is saved by the Night Angel. ONESHOT set 30 years before the Night Angel trilogy- may contain spoilers up to book 3


**This is my first time writing a one-shot, and also my first time writing for the Night Angel's Trilogy, but I think this story is pretty good. Please review it and tell me what you think, and also if you want me to write another.**

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They were losing this war, and Agon knew it. The Khalidoran's were unstoppable. For months they had been slowly advancing from the Screaming Winds towards Cenaria city. Agon, the lord general of King Aleine Gunder VIII, had constantly been trying to push them back, but the effort was futile**.** Now, they had made it to Cenaria city and taken it. The only remaining defense was the castle, and that would soon be overtaken. An arrow whizzing by his head brought him back to reality.

"Shields up!" He roared at his men.

They quickly threw up their shields, but a few of the hundred arrows made it through, killing his men. Agon swore and looked over the wall to see their current situation. The outer wall of the castle was completely surrounded by close to fifty thousand Khalidoran troops. Agon swore again, looking up and down the wall to see their defense. They had maybe five thousand good soldiers left, most of those injured in some way. They were stretched thin across the wall, blindly firing arrows into the Khalidoran masses below. As Agon despaired over their current situation, he heard frantic shouting and the sound of horses from the courtyard behind him.

He looked behind him and, much to his surprise saw the King himself forming a group of cavalrymen. _Idiot…_ Agon thought, _they will all get slaughtered if they ride out into battle._

Agon tried to get up and persuade the king to stay behind the safety of the walls, but as soon as he got out of his crouch a dozen arrows shot at him. Agon realized that they must have archers watching all of the commanders and generals. Agon looked back into the courtyard and saw that the men had formed up with the King at the front and the rest trailing out to his sides and behind, like an arrowhead.

Agon had to admit, although it was foolish to ride out into battle in the front lines, King Aleine look truly fearsome in his armor. It was deep, forest green, plate armor, and the helmet had gilded antlers coming out of it to show the stag of the Gunder house. Aleine held a greatsword in his hand that most men would have trouble lifting. It was close to 7 feet long, and it was made of gilded steel that shone in the moonlight. His horse was also very impressive, a stark white warhorse that could crush a man with its hooves. And the man himself was huge, close to 7 and half feet tall and as wide as two normal men. He was the best king Cenaria had had in centuries, and it was a shame that he had yet to produce any legitimate heirs to the throne.

They rode out with the king at the head,and straight through the Khalidorans. At first, it almost looked like their blind charge might work, as they cleared a path through the Khalidorans. With Aleine at the lead, it looked like nobody could stop them. As he defended his homeland, he looked more like a beast than a man. He charged headfirst through the Khalidorans, cleaving skulls with the greatsword left and right. They forged a path through the Khalidoran ranks, and they almost broke free to the other side before the Khalidorans gained enough wit to fight back.

The Khalidorans formed a shield wall four people deep to impede the path of the Aleine's cavalrymen, and it was working. Aleine continued his headlong rush, and got most of his men impaled by the spears the Khalidorans had held up above their shields. With most of his men on foot, but himself still on horse, they continued to fight with the vigor of men who knew they would not live. The Khalidorans had them surrounded, bringing men from behind to encircle them with a shield wall. The Khalidorans started to march in, spears held in the gaps between shields, flicking in and out to impale the legs of horses and the torsos of men.

Now that the Khalidorans had them all confined to one space, the meisters and vürdmeisters that had made this army so powerful, could do their work. On a nearby hillock, three vürdmeisters where creating a swirling inferno around them. As it reached nearly twenty feet in the air, they shouted in a language Agon did not know and the fire burst from their hands towards the Cenarians. It rushed through their ranks, killing almost all of them. Agon winced as the cries of pain from the burning men met his ears. As the fire and smoke cleared, it looked to be all carcasses lying there. Slowly, some movement from the center of the circle caught his eye. Standing slowly, leaning on his greatsword, was the King. He looked to be in terrible shape, his arms burnt almost black and his scalp smoldering where his hair used to be. He stood, and Agon wondered how he was still alive, much less standing. When he saw the 6 corpses in a circle around him, he realized that they were the King's meisters, the only 6 Cenaria had. Agon realized that they must have sacrificed themselves to save him, and he made a mental note to honor them accordingly if he lived through this.

More movement caught his eye as one of the vürdmeisters from the hillock slowly walked towards the king.

"Fire at the vürdmeister," he quietly whispered at the few archers remaining on the wall.

They all stood up as one, and twenty arrows soared at the vürdmeister, only to burst into flame when 5 feet away from him. The vürdmeister looked up at them smugly and smirked, then continued walking towards the king. As he walked, a small flame began to build up in his hand, dancing around his fingers.

His voice increased in volume by magic so all could hear, the vürdmeister spoke to the king.

"Say goodbye to your precious kingdom Aleine. Although now that I have seen it, I have no idea why you stayed in this shithole."

Aleine screamed and rushed at him, rage in his eyes. The vürdmeister smirked again, and released the fire in his hands. It was small, like a spark, but when it hit the king in his chest he was blown back five feet to the ground. After a few moments, he started to struggle to his knees, and Agon was surprised again by his strength.

"You're a tough one, Aleine, I'll give you that." The vürdmeister said. Then the vürdmeister coiled a fist of fire in his hands and struck out towards the king, but this time it never reached the king. It seemed to be sucked up into thin air, and Agon blinked hard to make sure he was not mistaken. He would have thoughthe had gone mad, if not for the slack-jawed vürdmeister standing there in shock. In fact, everyone in the castle was in shock.

Then a voice rang through Agon's ears, much louder than the enhanced vürdmeisters voice had been.

"Retribution," rang a voice as black as night, but not exactly evil. As the word was echoing in his head, the vürdmeister in front of the king was suddenly beheaded. Agon looked for who did it, but saw nobody within 20 feet of the corpse.

"Mercy," the voice said again, and four more vürdmeisters fell.

"Justice," the voice rang again, tolling the deaths of 20 more.

Khalidorans started falling everywhere, all of them beheaded by this unseen force.

"I am the Night Angel, and tonight I fight for Cenaria."

Confusion was spreading in the ranks of the Khalidorans;the meisters were shooting fire at their own men where they fell, and the ground troops were dropping their weapons to flee.

"I am the shadow in the night, and no man can escape their own shadow."

All of the Khalidorans were fleeing now, and all of them were being cut down. The archers on the wall were standing up, sending arrows into the Khalidoran ranks to add even more to the death toll.

Soon, all of the Khalidorans were either dead or had fled into the night, and the voice rang out one final time:

"Remember this day, people of Cenaria. Remember me always, watching from the shadows. Remember also that judgment comes to all men, and in the end the Wolf will take you all."

With that, the castle was in complete silence. The silence was broken as a man let out a cry of victory, and all of the other men on the wall held their swords in the air and cried out in victory. But Agon did not hoist his sword in the air, did not let out a cry of victory, because he was the only one that had seen the king fall to the ground, the only one that had seen his chest stop moving.

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Agon stumbled drunkenly against his door, fumbling for the keys in his hands. Finding the right one, he fell into his room. He picked himself up and wiped the tears from his face. He had been mourning as had the others in the castle. He was grateful to whoever the Night Angel was, but the victory was bitter for him because of the King's death.

The King had always been nice to Agon, and Agon had counseled him well in his 20 years as lord general. Now the King was gone, and the castle felt empty. He was reaching for the wine pitcher when he heard a voice from the corner.

"You look like shit," a cold voice proclaimed to Agon.

Agon was startled, but in his drunken state he did not even consider that the voice might be a threat.

"Who are you," he asked, his voice slurring.

The man then stepped out of the shadows. It was Durzo Blint, notorious wetboy of the Sa'Kagè.

"I haven't much time, Lord General, so I will make this brief. Certain events that would have come to pass in these coming years have been altered, and I require your help. As a result of my actions tonight, I will be fleeing the country. Right now, there is a guild rat named Azoth in the warrens. I need you to protect him, take him in, adopt him, and feed him. You need to do this, and if you do, it will honor your king's death. Goodbye Agon, may the Night Angel watch over you."

A voice rang out from the hall, "Come Durzo, we need to go!"

"I'm coming Dorian, patience."

Durzo seemed to disappear and the door opened then closed. Only as Agon was falling asleep that night did he realize who the Night Angel was.

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**Beta = SpenstarianCreed1**

**Check out his stories for FMA**


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